Miss Brill and Perspective

During the time the short story Miss Brill was written, there was a good deal of discussion and disagreement in the area of characterization when writing. The two main schools of thought on the matter differed when it came to the character’s perspective. One school of thought, joined by Arnold Bennett and H.G. Wells, maintains that a character should be defined by their material possessions or the exterior of a scene. The second school of thought believes that a story should be written by defining the character through the character’s eyes. This is done by describing what is going on inside the character’s head. These two schools of thought differ on a single factor that can make a massive impact on a story. With a simple change in characterization, perspective changes, emotion changes, and tone changes.

Miss Brill was written around 1920 by Katherine Mansfield. In the story, Mansfield seems to take such a simple plot and turn it into an emotional storytelling experience. A woman is out and about around her town on a Sunday and the scene is given through her eyes. We see how happy the woman is in the beginning. Slowly the story turns. Miss Brill states that the last Sunday she was out “hadn’t been as interesting as usual” (299). The audience gets the sense that Miss Brill’s life is a tad monotonous. She is just waiting for someone to spark up a conversation with her. The audience gains such a deep respect for the woman because they understand her situation. They see her get teased by the couple from the “yacht club” that come and sit on the bench. This is a painful experience for the audience. The reader wants to jump into the story and tell those kids to stop. Instead, the story shifts. The beautiful descriptions of the gorgeous fall day go away. Miss Brill’s attitude changed so the story changed.

When there is a change in attitude in a story, time seems to change too. Much like time seems to speed up when a person is excited or happy, time shifts when you are unhappy. We see this with Miss Brill. The entire story is through Miss Brill’s eyes. When all of a sudden we see her day end when the two kids tease her, the audience is given the true sense of how hurt Miss Brill was. Miss Brill then goes straight from being on the bench with the children to her small one room apartment, skipping her usual bakery stop. We see how truly isolated Miss Brill is. She has no one. She thinks she hears her scarf screaming as she puts it back in its box but perhaps it is herself screaming on the inside, an old lady alone hurt by the young people of society. Miss Brill will always have next Sunday though. Hopefully someone starts a conversation with her. Hopefully the kids don’t tease her. The audience sure knows how much Miss Brill would like it if those things would happen next Sunday.